Heating system



Oct. 15, 1940. A. A. OLSON HEATING SYSTEM Filed June 25, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 1'4- SARmuR A. 01.50

Oct. 15, 1940. I QLSON 2,218,404

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A. A. OLSON HEATING SYSTEM Filed June 25, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 981mm? A. OLSOK- Oct. 15, 1940.

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Patented Oct. 15, 1940 UNITED" STATES PATENT! OFFICE HEATING SYSTEM Arthur A. Olson, Youngstown, Ohio Application June 25, 1938, Serial No. 215,902

7 Claims. (01. 231-50) This invention relates to an air heating system and more particularly to a system for the distribution of heated air throughout buildings having extensive clear spans and large door openings such as garages and airplane hangars. The arrangement is particularly useful in conjunction with centralized air heating plants and results in a number of desirable accomplishments, to be hereinafter fully explained, which cooperate to provide an economical and wholly satisfactory space heating system for structures of the kind mentioned.

In the design and construction of buildings having extensive clear spans, practical considerations do not allow the imposition of any load,

not absolutely essential, on the ceiling or roof I supporting truss structures and in order not to impose undesirable limitations on the location of or the type of doors used to close the openings or on the manner in which they are operated, the mounting of any heating means or heated air outlets on the walls of the structure is generally undesirable. Moreover, inasmuch as a particular dooropening may comprise the ma jor part of a wall stretch, as is usualin hangar construction, there is little fixed wall space to accommodate any of the aforementioned heating means.

Aside from the above considerations, the opening of an extensive wall section will ordinarily result in an outrush of heated air or an inrush of cold air, resulting in the rapid chilling of the building in either event with consequent discomfort to persons within the building and waste of heat. By the use of the system of this invention it is possible to provide an upwardly rapidly inoving screen of heated air extending the entire length of the opening which in practice hasbeen round to effectively block the movement oi air through the opening thereby main- 7 taining the temperature of the space within the building and close to the open door at substantially near the desired degree.

Accordingly, the primary object of the invention is to provide an improvedheated air distribution system for a hangar and the like which places no limitations on the structural design of the building.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved air distribution system for a structure of the kind described in which a portion of the air distributed acts to prevent excessive flow of air through the large door openings.

Another object of'the invention is to provide a heated air distribution system for a building of the kind .described in which the outlets are so positioned that the full use of the building is not interfered with while no loads due to heating equipment are added to the walls or roof of the building.

Still another object of the invention is the incorporation of means in a heating system of the character described to eifectively prevent the formation of ice or snow on or adjacent the outer surface of the doors whereby the doors may always be easily operated regardless of the type of door used.

Other objects of the invention include the incorporation of means with the air distribution system to prevent the flow of surface water into the building, a simplified air circulation arrangement, and other features and advantages which will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and the following detailed specification.

By way of example, I have illustrated the invention as applied to an airplane hangar of conventional design and in the drawings- Figure 1 is a plan view of the hangar and heating system therefor;

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical section taken along the line 2--2 of Figure 1 at a door opening and showing the door in open position;

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a vertical section taken along 4-4 of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is a vertical section taken along line 5-5 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows. m

Referring to the plan view of Figure 1, the building may comprise a large clear span room in having fixed wall sections I i and doors l2 and 13 which doors may comprise a substantial part of the wall length of the enclosure. A main air distribution duct I5 is positioned beneath the floor 14 of the room and extends around the room adjacent the inner surfaces of the walls and doors. The main duct is provided with an inlet 16 and. is preferably divided into two branches, as shown, the wall I! terminating each branch. Positioned between the lower portion of each door and the main duct l5 are the auxiliary ducts 2B which extend substantially the full length of the door openings and which are connected with the main duct l5 by a multiplicity of openings 2|. As shown more clearly in Figure 2, the auxiliary ducts extend considerably below the lower walls 55 of openings 2| to prevent water and debris from entering main duct l5 and their upper ends are closed over by suitable metal gratings 22. Gratings 22 extend along the doors immediately inwardiy thereof and when the doors are in closed position the heated air rising rapidly from the ducts 20 will prevent the formation of ice or snow about the base of the door and other working parts, such as hinges, joints and operators, of the doors. With the doors in open position, the rapidly rising curtain of air issuing from the ducts prevents any rapid movement of air through the door openings thereby eliminating rapid chilling of the air within the room. It has been found in actual ractice that except under very severe weather conditions workmen within the room ad-' jacent a door suffer little discomfort because of the frequent opening and closing of the door.

In the buildings of the kind under consideration it is desirable to provide a substantially smooth and level floor surface extending from within to without the building to enable wheeled vehicles to be easily rolled-into and out of the building. In accordance with usual practice an apron 24 of very low pitch is placed in front of the. door Openings. Heretofore, considerable difficulty and annoyance have been experienced due to the flow of wind driven surface water over the apron and into the building. I obviate this disadvantage by utilizing the heat distribution duct 20 as adrainage trench and for this purpose I position a number of drainage conduits along the ducts 20 which conduits extend downwardly and outwardly from the bottom of ducts 20, as shown, to draw off any water coming into the ducts. It is obvious that even under the most severe weatherconditions the drainage system thus provided will be free from stoppage due to ice or snow.

Heated air may conveniently be supplied to the main distribution duct by an air heating furnace, indicated .generally at 30, positioned within a heater room 3| adjacent the main room [0 at the location of the inlet I6. A grilled opening 32 in the wall separating rooms l0 and 3| provides a passage for the flow of return air into the room 3|. Air within the room 3| is drawn through blower 33 and forced through duct 35, through.

the heat exchanging elements of the furnace and into the main distribution duct [5 through the inlet l6. Referring more particularly to Figures 4 and 5 the air heating furnace may consist of a series of inverted U-shaped air conducting tubes 40 having their ends suitably secured to header plates M. The outer tubes support a refractory baffle wall 42 which divert the hot gaseous products coming from the combustion chamber 33 over the tubes until they reach the end of the furnace opposite the combustion chamber. The gases are then drawn through the space immediately surrounding the tubes 40 and pass out of the furnace through ducts 44 positioned below the combustion chamber.

In accordance with usual practice the building may also include a number of smaller rooms, as 4l48, to provide office or shop space and these rooms may readily be heated by providing branch ducts from the furnace outlet or from the main distribution duct as shown at 50 and 49, respectively.

A series of heated air outlets 52 may be positioned along the fixed wall surfaces II to provide an even distribution of heat, the outlets 52 communicating with the main supply l5 by means of branch ducts 5|. To provide for directional flow from the outlets 52, the outlets 52 are preferably swivably mounted on rings 62. As indicated in Figure 3, outlets 52 are substantially nested within the upright building members 54 in order to substantially reduce the otherwise usable space taken up by the outlets.

The above specifically described embodiment of my invention should be considered as illustrative only as obviously many changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A space heating installation for; a building having fixed wall sections and entrance doors between said sections comprising an air distribution duct extending along the fixed wall sections and door openings and positioned beneath said floor, auxiliary ducts extending along said door openings between the doors and the first mentioned duct, gratings over said auxiliary ducts substantially" in the plane of the fioor, means to conduct air from the first mentioned duct into said auxiliary duct, air outlets positioned along the inner surface of said fixed wall sections, means to connect said outlets with said first mentioned'duct, and means to supply heated air to said first mentioned duct.'

2. A space heating installation for a building having fixed wall sections and entrance doors between said sections comprising an air distribution duct positioned beneath the plane of the floor of the building, auxiliary ducts extending along said door openings adjacent the inner surface of the doors and connected with said distribution duct, gratings over said auxiliary ducts substantially in the plane of the iioor, spaced outlets along the inner surface of said fixed wall sections connected with said distribution duct, and means to supply heated air to said distribution duct.

3. A space heating installation for a building having wide entrance doors comprising an air supplying duct positioned beneath the plane of the floor of the building, auxiliary ducts extendlng along the door openings adjacent the inner surface of the doors and connected with said supplying duct, gratings over said auxiliary ducts substantially in the plane of the fioor, and means to conduct heated air to said supplying duct.

4. A space heating installation for a building having a wide entrance door comprising an air supplying duct positioned beneath the plane of the floor of the building, an auxiliary duct extending along the door opening adjacent the inner surface of the door and connected with said supplying duct, a grating over said auxiliary duct substantially in the plane of the floor, and means to conduct heated air to said supplying duct.

5. A space heating installation for a building having a wide entrance door comprising a duct in the floor of said building extending along the door opening adjacent the inner surface of the door, a grating over said duct substantially in the plane of the floor, and means to supply heated air under pressure to said duct.

6. An installation according to claim 5 further characterized by means to drain the duct whereby surface water coming through the door opening will be drained off and thereby prevented from entering the building.

7. A space heating installation for an extensive clear span room having an extensive door tioned duct into said auxiliary duct, air outlets positioned along the inner surfaces of said walls,

means to conduct heated air from said first mentioned ducts to said air outlets and means to supply heated air to said first mentioned duct.

ARTHUR A. OLSON. 

